Frankly...I...still don't like the boss. :/
PROS:
- graphics. Deffo. Thanks Ladi <3
- Well, the Vine Pillar is cool?
CONS:
- it plays out and looks like a mess.
- Repetitive fight, it's not boring...but not-boring in a bad way
The two main problems is repetitiveness and how it plays out and looks like a mess.
The screen gets really convoluted with the vine pillars, the petals, the twirling derp-faced, evil girl; the apples, the munchers, the constant shakes - it gets gives off a messy look, and it isn't pleasing and fun. I think this is because the attacks are sort-of made to pile up on each to be even harmful to the player. I think reworking the attacks to be less reliant
on being a collage and more on being an
individual attack will improve this boss greatly.
Apple-Attack: These are footballs right? I think this attack with the Petals are a nice combo - the Petals is a sort of offensive-defense to a potential stomp on the head, but also doesn't make the one screen room looks convoluted. They get really annoying with the one screen battle arena. I'll elaborate on this more later on.
Muncher attack: I don't really think this is a great (and unique) attack - very generic. I can't think of what to do with it right now. But it definitely is my least favorite attack.
Petals: God - this attacks is spammed with everything else towards the end. IMO, an partnership/combo with at just one other attack works well, and doesn't make the screen look messy. This being a constant attack (and not like the Tanuki's leaf or Frank's fire/ice) or any other controlled "projectile" attack and appears without a frame showing it's being thrown somehow feels it a bit forced. Having it an exclusive attack (similar to how the Lava Lotus spits its fire) rather than an arbitrary "Bullet Bill/Eerie Generator" difficulty attack will make fix this.
Vine Pillar: I like this attack. I assume it's just a graphics-mask of the fire pillar? I like how it works currently.
The boss is extremely repetitive, and it doesn't keep a interest throughout the fight, and is more like an "I want to get this over and done with". I think a variation in attacks and rather than pile this and that and the constant floating and cutting herself on the thorny vines by spinning will help.
Lightning Flames to Vine: I know that the Fire Pillar just uses the Sumo Bro's fire lightning. How about have an attack where the Dryad "drops" a seed (lightning) and the thorny vine graphics are used for the flames? The flatness of the arena wouldn't cause any glitchiness.
Muncher: The falling munchers is just uhh. Yoko, Frank, Boss Jelectro, and Madame Mau already does falling stuff attacks. Maybe doing
something like this, except with munchers, will be better. (I'll elaborate more on this later)
The constant going to the right to spin her body against THORNS gets tiresome. I personally think just spinning around anywhere will be much better and looks less repetitive.
Now, I want to talk about the small room size.
Currently, we only have one boss that uses a Battle Arena larger than one screen: Madame Mau. Truntec, Yoko, Boss Jelectro, Hartfowl, Hidenbird, Frank, and Doc Croc all have a battle arena of just one screen.
So I propose this: why not expand the Dryad's arena to at least a wide two screens? Here spinning around, the spastic apples, the petals - they'll work perfectly with a much more roomy battle arena. The Vine Attack and the Muncher attack I suggested will be perfect for a bigger arena.
That's why I suggest having the Dryad spin around anywhere it stops at (Like Ludwig does in his SMW fight - he jumps anywhere).
So yeah...
*runs*